Contact: Dan Ellsworth
dan@wisconsinwateralliance.org
(920) 319-5361
The Wisconsin Water Alliance today made the following statement towards the leadership of
Senator Cowles and Representative Kitchens around Wisconsin water quality and innovative
policy solutions:
The Wisconsin Water Alliance applauds Senator Cowles and Representative Kitchens for their continued leadership on improving water quality in Wisconsin through innovative policy solutions. Their proposed nutrient trading bill will fix longstanding problems with Wisconsin’s existing nutrient trading program that have thus far hindered the ability of our environmental community, point sources of water pollution, and farmers to maximize efforts to improve our waters. This bill will achieve more water quality improvement at a lower overall cost and help shrink the environmental footprint of agriculture in the process. By giving point sources of water pollution, like municipal wastewater treatment facilities, a more reliable and less costly approach to achieving required water quality improvements, the bill will protect our local taxpayers. On top of that, the clearinghouse created in the bill will leverage the revenue generated from the sale of credits to create the revenue stream needed to help our farmers implement improved practices on the landscape and, better yet, more effective and reliable technologies that remove pollutants from manure and other agriculture waste.
